Just Like the Other Girls - Claire Douglas Page 0,123
going on?’
45
Willow
The detective, who introduces herself as Christine Holdsworth, comes and sits beside me on the sofa. ‘I’m going to have to go to the station and interview Arlo,’ she says, her voice kind. ‘But I’m going to send a colleague here to sit with you.’
‘I don’t need anyone to sit with me,’ I cry. ‘I’m not a child.’
‘She can come and stay with me tonight,’ pipes up Courtney. She’s still hovering in the doorway with Vince.
Why do I feel like I’m the last to know what’s going on?
‘I’ll need to take statements from you all in due course,’ DS Holdsworth says. ‘I’ll be in touch.’
I nod, blinking back tears. Arlo a killer. I still don’t know if I believe it. Although the way he lunged at Kathryn tonight was so out of character it’s made me wonder if I know my brother at all. Christine Holdsworth stands up, dusting down her long dark coat as though the sofa contains germs – which, to be fair, it probably does. ‘Did you turn on the phone?’ she suddenly asks.
‘The phone?’
‘Una’s phone?’
‘Yes. I didn’t know it was hers. I found it …’ I get up and show her to the airing cupboard ‘… in here.’
She holds out her hand and, without speaking, I reach for the Jiffy-bag and give it to her, knowing that this evidence will help put Arlo away.
I suddenly feel utterly and helplessly alone.
DS Holdsworth flashes me a sympathetic smile and, tucking the Jiffy-bag under her arm, leaves the flat, closing the door behind her. When I return to the living room/kitchenette, Kathryn is sitting on the sofa with Vince and Courtney. They all glance up at me with glum expressions.
‘How did you know?’ I say to them, as I slump into the leather armchair by the window.
Kathryn speaks first. ‘Mother hired a private detective to find Viola. He discovered that she died two years ago but also that she had a daughter called Willow and that she’d married a man called Dominic Green.’
I nod. ‘That’s my dad. But …’ I frown, remembering what she’d said on the phone earlier ‘… you didn’t know I had a brother?’
‘Not at that point.’
‘Kathryn rang me,’ pipes up Courtney.
‘I wanted to see what she knew about you,’ adds Kathryn. ‘Because I realized it couldn’t be a coincidence that you’d decided to take a job at your grandmother’s house.’
‘But when I picked up the phone I was scared because I’d seen a man lurking outside my flat,’ says Courtney.
‘So I drove straight round there,’ adds Kathryn.
‘I’d gone to see Courtney too,’ says Vince. It’s the first thing he’s said so far this evening and his male voice sounds abrasive in this small flat. It reminds me of Arlo. ‘It was silly, but I knew she was leaving the flat and I wanted to … say goodbye to it. Goodbye to Una.’
‘I think Vince interrupted the intruder because as he was walking towards my flat the man suddenly pushed past him, got into his van and sped away,’ says Courtney.
‘And when I turned into the road, I saw the van speeding towards me,’ says Kathryn. ‘I recognized it as Lewis’s. I didn’t think much of it. Until Courtney told me what had happened.’
I fidget in my seat. ‘So Arlo was Lewis?’
‘Yes.’
‘Which means he’s dating Daisy. Who works with you.’
Kathryn purses her lips. ‘I guessed that. Someone’s been fiddling the books in the gallery. But that’s another story.’
I flop back against the headrest. My mind is aching. ‘I just don’t understand.’
‘There’s a lot I don’t understand, either,’ agrees Kathryn. ‘But Lewis – sorry, Arlo – took a job with my mother because he wanted to get in with her. He must have known that she’d disinherited Viola. I don’t know how. And thought it was a way in. But when he realized my mother was having none of it –’
I’m puzzled. ‘Wait! Your mother knew who he was?’
Kathryn shakes her head. ‘No. He never told her. He had a better plan. He wanted to install you in the job. It’s obvious when you think about it. He knew my mother would take to you.’ She looks embarrassed. ‘Anyone can see my mother gets infatuated with pretty young blonde girls.’
‘So – what? He murdered the others so that I could get the job?’
‘I think he planned for you to get the job after Matilde. That was when he started working with us. And when she died, my mother gave the job to Jemima pretty swiftly.’